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In reply to the discussion: Gov. Ralph Northam Calls Slaves 'Indentured Servants' In Interview, Gets Corrected [View all]Blue_true
(31,261 posts)I read the article that you linked. The picture is very much mixed. Northam referenced 1619 Virginia, the Blacks brought ashore then were indeed indentured servants. You mentioned the Spanish and Dutch having hundreds of slaves, what was not mentioned was that the one attempt to do that by the Spanish in America failed spectacularly at Jamestown in 1526 when the slaves revolted, effectively wiping out that colony. There is a reference to Blacks in Bermuda in 1616, but that same reference say they were there for their expertise on growing tobacco, it said nothing about their status beyond that.
So again, using his 1619 Virginia reference, Northam was right, Gayle King was wrong, but right in that the WAY that those first Blacks came into indentured servitude was different from their White counterparts.